Quake Live update roundup Aug-Dec 09

id Software changed its update process a while ago to a weekly update cycle set on every Tuesday. While some updates aren’t really worth mentioning, there are some features added that deserve their share of attention. I will list some of them here with a short explanation of why you should take a look at these features.

Lightning gun goes 777
This is an update that was highly anticipated by old schoolers. Where as the previous setup was 765, the new lightning has an equal damage ratio over it’s entire beam. It’s good to know that the lightning gun now deals the same damage at any range! (777 or 765 means the ammount of damage dealt by the LG from close range to long range)

cg_impactSparks
Impact sparks look just like the sparks when a body is gibbed. Everytime you hit a person 1 spark will be shown coming from the enemies’ body. It might look useless, but every signal that tells you you made a hit is welcome.

cg_speedometer
This handy meter shows how fast you are travelling in the 3D environment expressed in UPS (Units per second). This is very useful to know when you are able to make a certain jump. The B2R (Bridge to Rail) jump in QZDM6 (Campgrounds) requires a minimum ammount of speed to get from the bridge to the railgun. This helps you to decide wether you should try for a jump and plaster your face into the wall or wether you hold back and try some other route.

togglechathistory
This command is used to show the chatbox constantly rather than holding down the button bound to +chat. Useful if you are in a firefight and still would like to see what your teammates said before it fades out without the need of holding down yet another button.

cg_waterWarp
This cvar was created for QL on the first of September. What it does is fairly simple: when you submerge into water there is a slight distortion of your sight. This cvar removes that distortion as some people were affected by it and got desorientated.

cg_deadBodyDarken
This cvar will color dead bodies so you won’t mistake a dead body for a live one anymore. cg_deadBodyColor controls the color the body turns into after being fragged.

cg_zoomSensitivity
I still often see people asking for help with a zoom sensitivity script, but this cvar cancels the need to create a complicated script. combined with cg_zoomFov a very powerful cvar!

cg_hitBeep
This replaces the old hitBeep based on the ammount of damage dealt. A very popular setting is cg_hitBeep 3, which makes low damage have a low pitched beep, while high damage playing a high pitched beep.

cg_crosshairHitStyle
A great addition to Quake LIVE along with cg_hitBeep. This works the same way as cg_hitBeep, only this time the hit is translated through the color of your crosshair. Perfect if you are playing without sound, you can see if a hit registered or not. There are 7 styles defined within this cvar. This cvar is customizable by cg_crosshairHitColor and cg_crosshairHitTime, which sets the period of time the crosshair stays colored from the hit.

cg_screenDamage
If you are one of those person who is suprised when they notice how low their health was and didn’t know why, then this cvar is for you. This shows the how much damage you are taking at any time. The value of this cvar is the color the damage is shown in. There are some sub-cvars that control the color if you are taking damage from yourself or from teammates (TDM): cg_screenDamage_Self and cg_screenDamage_Team

To find out new cvars, actions or commands, keep an eye out on the weekly updates!
These are usually posted in the Quake Live Developer Blog forum!

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